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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Dr. Christopher Ringle is the last person you'd expect to find moonlighting as Santa Claus at the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. But it is there that he meets a young man named Molar Alan, who desperately needs a new perspective on the underlying value of Christmas. Dr. Ringle recruits Mo and his older brother as volunteers at a nearby children's hospital for the holiday season. At the hospital, Mo is tasked to help bring holiday cheer to the young cancer patients on the fifth floor. His biggest challenge is befriending a decidedly angry girl who is so embarrassed by her scarred appearance that she hides her face behind the safety of a paper bag.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Kevin Milne was born in Portland, Oregon on June 13, 1973. As with the main character of his book, The Paper Bag Christmas, Kevin’s father, Robert Milne, was in the middle of his final examination of dental school when he was notified that Kevin’s entrance into the world was imminent. Robert left his exam, ran over to the nearby delivery room just in time to see his son born, and then raced back to finish the test. Robert and his wife, Diana, toyed for a full week with the idea of naming their child Molar in honor of Robert’s favorite tooth, but reason eventually won out and baby Kevin was taken home from the hospital.

Eighteen years later Kevin graduated from Sherwood High School in Sherwood, Oregon, a small country town outside of Portland. In college, Mr. Milne studied anything and everything that caught his interest. In his first two years as an undergraduate student he changed majors nearly a dozen times, studying such varied fields as film, journalism, communications, philosophy, pre-dentistry, advertising, pre-law, pre-medicine, political science, and German, then finally earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. Just about the only thing he didn’t study was business, which, ironically, is what he chose to pursue in graduate school, earning an MBA at Pennsylvania State University in 2000.

Today, Kevin is a business professional by day, an author by night, and a husband and father around the clock. He and his wife Rebecca were married in Washington D.C. in 1995. They now reside in Kevin’s hometown of Sherwood, Oregon, where they are the proud parents of five children: Mikayla, Kamry, Mary, Emma, & Kyler (aka "the boy").

Mr. Milne has also lived in many diverse places since his dental-exam birth in 1973, including Oregon, Washington DC, California, Hawaii, Utah, Austria, Croatia, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont.

READING GROUP GUIDE--GREAT QUESTIONS TO USE WITH YOUR BOOK CLUB:
1. Molar and Aaron volunteer at the hospital to help the kids there, but in what way did those kids help the brothers?

2. What role does volunteering play in your life?

3.. Through Madhu’s persistence, Molar and Aaron are forced to question not only the origins of Santa Claus, but also the underlying purpose and meaning of Christmas. What does Christmas mean to you?

4. Did this book change the way you think about Christmas?

5. If you could ask for only one thing for Christmas, what would it be?

6. Do you think Dr. Ringle really was Santa Claus?

7. How are Katrina and Madhu different (or the same) in terms of how they cope with personal adversity? Are you more like Katrina or Madhu?

8. Which character changes or evolves the most through the course of the story? What triggered the change?

9. What are the most prominent themes throughout the novel? If you could boil the author’s message down to one word, what would it be?

10. Katrina tries hard to hide her appearance from others. What eventually motivates her to remove the bag? Do any other characters try to hide parts of themselves (flaws, habits, beliefs, etc.) from others?

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO MIRIAM AND THE
HACHETTE BOOK GROUP, I HAVE
5 COPIES OF THIS HOLIDAY
BOOK TO GIVE AWAY. RULES:

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
--PUT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE COMMENT
---ALL COMMENTSMUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY:Comment below by answering either question #2 or #5 in the Reading Group Guide questions above.+1 MORE ENTRY:Comment on if you follow and where/how, or follow by joining through the Google Friend Connect in the left column of this blog.+1 MORE ENTRY:Enter one other of my UPCOMING giveaways (NOT ONE YOU ALREADY ENTERED---ONE THAT WILL POST IN THE FUTURE) and then come back here and tell me the contest is that you entered.

First comment, which means I probably won't win. But this just looks SO cute!

+2 question #5 -it I could ask for just one thing for christmas, I would ask for motivation. I know it sounds lame, but I feel like I could accomplish SO much more, not just for myself but for everyone, if i just had a little bit more motivation.

Maybe it sounds too "retail" in a post from a book about giving and volunteering, but I'd really like a good digital camera to record my family's life and times! Thanks for the chance to win this wonderful sounding book.JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com

I love stories with a Christmas theme, doesn't matter what it's about :-)

#2. I don't seem to have a lot of time but when I can I like to volunteer at my childrens' school. My kids are very fortunate to have amazing teachers. I love to help them out in anyway, plus I get to spend some extra time with my kids.

Looks like a great read for me to share with my daughter. Please enter me.Volunteering has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I remember being in grade 4 and volunteering my "recess" time to help the Senior Kindergarten students with their snacktime, as well as getting their winter clothing on etc, and helping the teacher do "cutting" for activities etc. I continued to do that until I left that school to go to high school. In high school I volunteered as a peer tutor for students with special needs after school, all 5 years and during my "spare' period in my 3rd 4th and 5th year. I have volunteered as a canvasser for the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. I have volunteered as a respite worker for caregivers of dementia patients, as well as numerous volunteer experiences at my daughter's school. I could go on and on ( even more than I have....lol). I could not imagine not volunteering!Thanks for the entry!lovemykidsandbooksATgmail DOT com

I think volunteering is critical. I volunteer at and through my church. In a couple weeks we'll be making up Thanksgiving baskets for area families - we're hoping to make 200 of them since so many are in need.

I am very eager to win this one!! :) I follow. I need to do more volunteer work. At this time the extent of volunteering is knitting hats for a woman's shelter. I guess the work on my blog is a volunteer effort too. I really need a little holiday feel good story. tonigomez(at) surewest(dot) net

#2. I volunteer at my kids' school weekly reading with first graders. I just LOVE it. I love watching them bloom with their reading skills, love how they smile when they find a book they think is fun, love the enthusiasm that comes with learning a new word or the meaning of a word. That's just one small thing, but it really brings joy to my week.

Volunteering is giving back and extremely gratifying and a great experience.One thing for Christmas is a trip for my hardworking, selfless and devoted husband. he needs time off. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

If you could ask for only one thing for Christmas, what would it be?I would wish for my Father to be able to find some help with the terrible pain he is in due to post poliocopperllama at yahoo dot com

#5. If I could ask for one thing for Christmas, it would be that my daughter bring my grandson to see me for Christmas. My grandson last came to see me in my home for 12 hours - most of which was spent sleeping - when he was 3 months old. He turned three years old in September. She has time to fly to see her grandparents who are two hours away and her dad who is 45 minutes away. I just wish that I knew what I did that keeps her away. My doctors are not letting me travel this year.